Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
9 (0) For the leader. On the death of Labben. A psalm of David:
2 (1) I give thanks to Adonai with all my heart.
I will tell about all your wonderful deeds.
3 (2) I will be glad and exult in you.
I will sing praise to your name, ‘Elyon.
4 (3) When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before you.
5 (4) For you upheld my cause as just,
sitting on the throne as the righteous judge.
6 (5) You rebuked the nations, destroyed the wicked,
blotted out their name forever and ever.
7 (6) The enemy is finished, in ruins forever;
you destroyed their cities; all memory of them is lost.
8 (7) But Adonai is enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
9 (8) He will judge the world in righteousness;
he will judge the peoples fairly.
10 (9) Adonai is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a tower of strength in times of trouble.
11 (10) Those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you have not abandoned those who seek you, Adonai.
12 (11) Sing praises to Adonai, who lives in Tziyon;
proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
13 (12) For the avenger of blood remembers them,
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted:
14 (13) “Have mercy on me, Adonai!
See how I suffer from those who hate me;
you raise me from the gates of death,
2 (1:18) Then I looked up and saw four horns. 2 (1:19) I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these?” He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Y’hudah, Isra’el and Yerushalayim.”
3 (1:20) Next, Adonai showed me four artisans. 4 (1:21) I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “Those horns that scattered Y’hudah so completely that no one could even raise his head — well, these men have come to terrify them, to overthrow the nations that raised their horns against the land of Y’hudah to scatter it.”
5 (1) I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.
5 Again I raised my eyes, and I saw in front of me a flying scroll. 2 He said to me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. 3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of all the land; for [according to what is written] on one side, everyone who steals will be swept away; and [according to what is written] on the other side, everyone who swears will be swept away. 4 ‘I will release it,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name; it will stay there inside the house and consume it completely, even its timbers and stones.’”
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who are working hard among you, those who are guiding you in the Lord and confronting you in order to help you change. 13 Treat them with the highest regard and love because of the work they are doing. Live at peace among yourselves; 14 but we urge you, brothers, to confront those who are lazy, your aim being to help them change, to encourage the timid, to assist the weak, and to be patient with everyone.
15 See that no one repays evil for evil; on the contrary, always try to do good to each other, indeed, to everyone.
16 Always be joyful. 17 Pray regularly. 18 In everything give thanks, for this is what God wants from you who are united with the Messiah Yeshua.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.